O’verlay Dressers Finally Get Pulls

You may remember my Ikea Malm dressers that I added overlays to not too long ago, well they have received another upgrade…

I recently traveled over 5,000 miles back to the U.S. for a visit. This trip was also much like going to town for supplies. I find there are many items that I regularly used at home I cannot find or are very expensive here in Germany. So as you can guess on the very top of my list was a trip to Lowe’s for drawer pulls. Don’t judge me, even when living in the U.S. I made just about a daily trip to Lowe’s so now I am having a bit of withdrawal.

I tried to find something that would work here in Germany. I even brought some pulls home from Ikea to test them out, but no luck. The main problem is the price. For a very basic knob you might spend 6-7€ that is almost $10 per knob. I only spent $60 on the dresser so $30 worth of very plain knobs was hard to swallow. Plus, I wanted something a little more retro than a basic knob.

Photo via Furnish Me Vintage

I did a little research and found these drawer pulls on a dresser at Furnish Me Vintage (great source for Mid Century furniture by the way) and began my quest. I searched the internet for vintage pulls or reproduction pulls or even back plates that I could use with a new pull but I was discouraged. The back plates were either very small or very expensive. I found 3″ back plate on Ebay for $10 each and that didn’t even include the knob.

Fast forward a few months and I am at Lowe’s my home improvement Meca. When I am at Lowe’s I am usually looking for something that does not exist. I check all departments for something that might suit my needs, this was no exception. I hunted trough hardware, electrical, and hit the jack pot when I got to plumbing! This is what I went home with.

The plumbing flange was the most important find in creating a Deco looking knob. Much cheaper than purchasing an actual back plate. These come in several sizes so you want to make sure you choose one that’s opening is smaller than the base of your knob.

The knob was easy to find, Lowe’s had a wide selection. I just had to make sure I found one that matched the chrome on my flange I was using as a back plate. I chose the white porcelain to match my white O’verlays. My knob came with a short and long screw but if yours only comes with a short screw you may have to buy longer ones to accommodate the thickness of your drawer plus the thickness of the flange.

3. Washer

The washer is important to keep your knob screw centered and at the same height as the top of the flange. This can be done in all sorts or ways. A stack or traditional washers will work or you can look for a specialty plastic washer that has some depth to it. What I used is actually a nail on furniture skid but it worked perfectly. What will work for one flange might not work for another so check out all the hardware and see what works best for yours.

The next steps are pretty basic to any drawer pull install. Drill a hole centered top to bottom and left to right. Add your back plate and screw on the knob.

In the end you end up with a vintage Art Deco looking knob that has a lot of impact. For only $4 per knob, I think the results are pretty amazing.

If you want to learn more about the white overlays I installed in a previous steps check out my post on installing O’verlays.

Hello Kelly, Overlays are a great product and the company is very happy to do custom orders. They have quite a few designs and I know they will adjust the sizes of their designs to suit your needs but I am unsure if you can submit your own design. It wouldn’t hurt to ask though! My previous post on the install of the Overlays should answer most of your questions, if not just check out MyOverlays.com.http://maggieoverbystudios.com/2013/10/04/instant-upgrade-overlays/
Thanks For stopping by, hope you become a regular!

I’m new to upcycling and this is really inspiring. I just stenciled the drawer fronts of a dresser with a pattern very much like the cut outs of the white lamp in your photo. Can you tell me a brand or where you got it? Is it vintage?

The lamps are actually Ikea as well it is called Kväve. I brought some beautiful tall yellow porcelain one over from the U.S. but they would not fit due to the slope of the ceiling. These were fill ins and work great, the shades and base are oval so they do not take up much space and fit perfectly into the slope of the ceiling. I tried to find these online for you but I just found them as an Ikea Family promotion, could be in store only. I bought them about 8 months ago so I can’t imagine that they no longer carry them. Good luck!

Thank you so much for introducing me to o’verlay! I’m so glad I found you via apartment therapy. I’ve had my malm dressers for almost 10 years and I came very close to getting rid of them 3 years ago after moving into my house. I’m so glad I didn’t because o’verlay will help perk up the malm dressers to fit in to my grownup master bedroom!